Nancy Lams Enak Enak reviews

I like Nancy Lam and her restaurant, Enak Enak Indonesian and Far Eastern Cui a lot. She’s a lovely lady who dishes up nice Oriental food with a happy smile on her face.
Actually, I’ve never met Nancy Lan herself, but she does do very nice scran at Enak Enak.

I'm from the states and have been hearing about Nancy Lam's from a friend for ages now. We are both vegetarians and enjoy Asian food because of the variety of dishes available to us, and so enjoy eating it often.
The day after arriving into London, we decided to meet up with some (non-vegetarian) friends there for dinner. As soon as we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by a very enthusiastic Nancy, and shown to our table. The restaurant wasn't packed, but there were definitely a good amount of people there.
The menu offers a good variety of dishes, for both meat eaters and vegetarians. We ordered a bottle of wine, starters, and mains. The food does take a few minutes to be served, but it's because it is cooked fresh and to order, rather than being made in large batches ahead of time and reheated. The ingredients were the absolute freshest, the veggies perfectly cooked, and the sauces amazing.
Portions are not the massive size you would expect from a cheap, processed food, Chinese takeout, but they are more than sufficient. A couple of us actually couldn't even finish all that we were given.
Prices were reasonable - again, more than you would pay for cheap takeout, but that's not what you're there for, right? We paid 130 pound for a bottle of wine, 5 starters and 5 mains.
As we finished, Nancy came back to chat for a bit, enjoying a laugh with the group of us. She is definitely someone who wants to make sure you are cared for and comfortable in her restaurant, and I think that's hard to come by.
I will definitely be returning here, probably on this same trip to London, actually, and I would definitely recommend eating here!

Went on Saturday night for my partners birthday. A little bit more expensive than your average Thai restaurant but quality of food was excellent. Great place, friendly staff and fantastic food. Don't miss the beef rending - must be the best in London.

Went to Nancy Lams last night and had a very enjoyable evening. The food was really nice and service very good and really friendly and helpful. There were 5 of us and the bill came to £200 including 2 bottles of wine a couple of beers and soft drinks. All in all it was lovely!

Absolutely appalling. Even factoring in that I've been spoilt growing up in Australia with so many great Asian restaurateurs, you’d expect a place that Marco Pierre White allegedly takes his family to be half decent.

You could pick up a meal from any suburban Asian restaurant in Australia let alone Asia that would trump the quality of the food produced.

The Sambal Pork was lifeless and the congealed lemon sauce we received smeared on chicken would have been better served greasing an outdoor dunny.

Now to the prices; 44 pounds for two saucer plates of food; some Tom Yum that’s only slightly better than the ones you can buy in a tin can and two beers.

Disgraceful and disgusted.

Wearing funny glasses, a wacky jumper and coming out to ask if you enjoyed your meal doesn’t excuse the slop that this place serves.

Recently got back from dinner and Enak Enak, the venue is intimate and cosy - unless you have the misfortune of sitting near the door - in which case you will feel the cold! However, the portions are good, the food was tasty, the only let down was that the service was rather slow. I would visit again.

Fans return time and again for yummy Indonesian and Oriental home cooking in a party atmosphere at larger-than-life TV chef Nancy Lam’s long-established Battersea headquarters.

The Venue
Once, it was a charming, slightly down-at-heel front room, so tiny that just getting a reservation felt like a real achievement. At a table where take-away customers sat to await their orders, wax crayons were provided to pass the time. Then, several years ago, the space was hugely extended and completely refurbished. The decoration of the resulting, long, narrow room, wisely broken up by a bar towards the back, is a little bland despite the fun, multi-coloured tablecloths, and diners might feel a bit lonely on a quiet weeknight. Still, at least the dramatic expansion makes booking much easier.

The Atmosphere
Provided you hit a night with a reasonable number of diners, a good time is guaranteed. The vibe is relaxed and fun: it feels like the evening could turn into a full blown party at any moment, especially when Nancy forsakes her kitchen to make her rounds. Displaying the extrovert, eccentric, high decibel persona familiar to fans of her Channel Five television series, Nancy works the room, jocularly insulting diners and always getting away with it. Perhaps the atmosphere also benefits from the fact that Enak Enak (Indonesian for yummy yummy, incidentally) is very much a family affair: Nancy’s placid, ever-smiling, husband, Ben, the quintessential yin to her yang, also cooks, whilst their two charming and beautiful daughters lead the front-of-house brigade.

The Food
This is honest, healthy, homely Indonesian and Far Eastern cooking of the highest order. Of the starters, skewers of marinated chicken are tender and tasty, and their accompanying satay sauce has not been over-processed, so it still contains little gritty bits of nut, making it impossibly moreish. A portion of vegetables in batter is generous and varied, including sweet potato, courgette, broccoli, cauliflower and aubergine, the batter impeccably light. Barbecue prawns are skewered and cooked over charcoal then simply seasoned with lemon juice. This is the simplest, plainest dish imaginable, yet the flavour is sublime.

Onto the mains. If sweet and sour chicken conjures up thoughts of heavy, greasy battered balls of meat with a gloppy, artificial-tasting, day-glo sauce, think again. Nancy’s version features the same feather-light, grease-free batter which graces the vegetable starter, and just enough piquant sauce has been drizzled over. A stir fry of juicy prawns and crisp vegetables shows that dishes can simultaneously feel indulgent and healthy. A side dish of perfectly cooked bok choi doused in a little soy sauce and a bowl of correctly sticky, fragrant rice complete a sparkling feast of a main course.

Puddings aren’t really the thing here, although you can order kush dada, which is pancake stuffed with coconut and brown sugar, or banana fritters. Both are fine, and come with homemade sorbet. Have the sorbet - which might be raspberry - on its own: it’s outstanding. Expect to pay £30-£40 for plenty to eat plus half a bottle of wine from the lower end of the list per person. This is not particularly a bargain but, bearing in mind the quality of the fare, it’s certainly good value.

The Drink
Wine is never going to be the main reason for visiting a restaurant like this, but the list is perfectly serviceable with bottles starting at around the £16 mark. Beers, which many still feel work better with spicy eastern foods, are from a reasonable £3. A large bottle of mineral water will cost you the same, whilst a free jug of London’s finest tap elicits no pained expressions or raised eyebrows.

The Last Word
Visit Enak Enak once and you’ll enjoy polished, deceptively simple Oriental home cooking in relaxed, fun surroundings. Return a second time and you’ll be greeted like a long lost family member. Perhaps it’s this warmth of welcome even more than the delicious heat of some of the fierier dishes that keeps Nancy’s loyal clientele coming back to Lavender Hill.